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___________________________________________________________________________________________ Essential English Grammar Lesson 1 Page 1 Maria English Society (Revised 2016) Maria English Society Essential English Grammar Teaching Notes - Unit 1 Table of Contents Nouns - Nouns: singular and plural - Common nouns and proper nouns - Abstract nouns - Collective nouns - Countable and uncountable nouns Adjectives - Adjective of quality - Adjective of quantity - Demonstrative adjectives - Interrogative adjectives - Possessive adjectives - Comparison of adjectives - Determiners: the articles, a, an, the - The order of adjectives

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Page 1: Maria English Society English Grammar Lesson 1 Page 1

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Essential English Grammar Lesson 1 Page 1

Maria English Society (Revised 2016)

Maria English Society

Essential English Grammar Teaching Notes - Unit 1

Table of Contents

Nouns

- Nouns: singular and plural

- Common nouns and proper nouns

- Abstract nouns

- Collective nouns

- Countable and uncountable nouns

Adjectives

- Adjective of quality

- Adjective of quantity

- Demonstrative adjectives

- Interrogative adjectives

- Possessive adjectives

- Comparison of adjectives

- Determiners: the articles, a, an, the

- The order of adjectives

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Unit 1

Parts of speech

The ancient Greeks divided Greek words into eight categories and called them parts of speech.

Although modern linguists say that English words should be divided into more than eight

categories, grammar students have used these same eight categories for centuries, and you will find

them in most grammar texts, dictionaries, and style guides.

Nouns

Words that are names for things, people, places or ideas.

e.g., chair, sister, democracy, leisure, stress

My sister is sitting in a chair.

Pronouns

Words that are used in place of nouns.

e.g., I, me, you, she, it, them

I gave it to them.

Verbs

Words that tell an action, experience, or state.

e.g., walk, need, be, exist

Kim walks to school every day.

Students often need flexible schedules.

A monarch is a king or queen.

Adjectives

Words that are used to modify (describe) nouns

e.g., old, wise, small, efficient

Efficient machines use small amounts of fuel.

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Adverbs

Words that are used to modify verbs.

e.g., quickly, leisurely, fluently

She speaks fluently in English.

Words that are used to modify adjectives or adverbs.

e.g., very, really, entirely

He speaks very eloquently.

The television program is showing entirely new episodes

this season.

Words that are used to modify whole sentences.

e.g., fortunately, naturally

Fortunately, the accident occurred near a good medical

clinic

Prepositions

Words that begin phrases about time, location or relationship.

e.g., about, at, from, in, on, of, with, to, under

The museum exhibit is about American history from 1920

to 1945.

Conjunctions

Words that are used to connect words, phrases, or clauses.

e.g., and, but, or, nor, because, until, if

We sell domestic and imported cheeses, but we don't sell

any kind of alcohol.

You will learn if you work hard.

Interjections

Words and phrases that express sudden feeling.

e.g., Oh! Ouch! Wow!

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Nouns

A noun names anything.

Exercises

A. Pick out the nouns in these sentences.

Example: Those women are teachers in my school.

Answer: women, teachers, school

1. Our fax number has changed.

2. The previous agreement was signed in December 1997.

3. They have updated their website.

4. This will save our time.

5. The former chairman was forced to resign.

B. Pick out all the nouns in this story.

When Victor Hugo finished the first novel, he didn’t know if it was successful. He

wrote a letter to the publisher. There were not any words in the letter. Hugo only

drew a question mark ‘?’ in it.

A few days later Hugo received a letter from the publisher. There were no words,

either. An exclamation mark ‘!’ was the only answer Hugo got.

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Nouns: singular and plural Nouns that mean “only one” are singular. Nouns that mean “more than one” are plural. Singular Plural Exceptions Regular boy

girl dog

boys girls dogs

Nouns that end in a “hissing” sound (-sh,-ch,-x,-z)

brush inch box fox bus watch boss church

brushes inches boxes foxes buses watches bosses churches

Nouns that end in –o potato cargo hero mosquito photo kilo studio

potatoes cargoes heroes mosquitoes photos kilos studios

Nouns that end in –f or –fe leaf wife half knife wolf thief

leaves wives halves knives wolves thieves

proofs, beliefs, chiefs

Nouns that end in –y baby army lady city fly body

babies armies ladies cities flies bodies

trays, donkeys, boys

Nouns that don’t follow any of these rules

man tooth woman goose child mouse foot sheep ox deer

men teeth women geese children mice feet sheep oxen deer

Nouns that are foreign in origin

analysis datum memorandum formula criterion phenomenon

analyses data memoranda formulae criteria phenomena

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Exercise

Write the plural forms of these nouns.

(Notice that plural nouns do not have a or an.)

Example: A box and a carton came in the shipment.

Answer: Boxes and cartons came in the shipment.

1. The photocopy machine is too large for our room.

2. The newspaper report may not be true.

3. My brother is involved in a business project.

4. The man and woman went to their office.

5. The boss saw an employee in the restaurant.

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Here are some more points about plural nouns.

1. A few nouns have the same form for singular and plural.

Two common ones are sheep and deer.

There is a sheep in the field. (singular)

There are some sheep in that field. (plural)

I saw a deer in the woods. (singular)

I saw two deer in the woods. (plural)

Usually fish has the same form in the singular as in the plural.

How many fish have you caught today? (plural)

We have only caught one fish today. (singular)

2. Some nouns have no plural: information, advice, furniture, news. So we say,

I bought three pieces of furniture (never three furnitures).

He gave me two good bits of advice (not two advices).

The news is good (never the news are good).

News looks like a plural word, but it isn’t.

3. Some nouns have no singular: scissors, trousers, clothes, riches.

These scissors are not sharp. (or This pair of scissors is not sharp.)

Tommy’s trousers were torn as he was climbing the tree.

Her clothes are always very smart.

Riches do not always bring happiness.

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4. There are some nouns that are made up of two nouns:

Schoolroom, girlfriend, boyfriend, bookcase, workman.

In the plural, only the second part changes.

Singular Plural

classroom classrooms

girlfriend girlfriends

boyfriend boyfriends

bookcase bookcases

workman workmen

Exercise

Choose the correct answer.

1. The news (was, were) alarming to some of us.

2. Those theses (is, are) the result of many hours of research.

3. Politics (is, are) an exciting field for intelligent people.

4. The scissors (was, were) on my desk when I left the office.

5. His wages (was, were) raised considerably.

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Exercise

Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.

1. Informations about the meetings can be obtained by calling the Berlin A B C D

Chamber of Commerce. 2. Passengers wishing to file a claim for lost or damaged luggages must do so

A B C before leaving the airport.

D

3. The laboratory equipments that you requested will be arriving by the end A B C D

of next week.

Did you know?

The following nouns are singular ONLY:

News (No news is good news.)

Aerobics (Aerobics is a form of exercise.)

Physics (Physics is a science subject.)

Rubbish

Equipment

Luggage

Baggage

Information

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Different kinds of nouns

Common nouns and proper nouns

Nouns that are the names for all people or things or place of the same kind are called common

nouns.

Nouns that are the special names of people or places or things are called proper nouns.

All proper nouns begin with capital letter. The names of days of the week (Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, etc.) and months of the year (January, February, etc.) are all proper nouns, and so

should begin with capital letters.

Exercise

Pick out the proper nouns in the following:

Example: Rome and Venice are cities in Italy.

Answer: Rome, Venice, Italy

1. My brother Michael used to be a manager.

2. The Red Sea is to the east of Egypt.

3. After 1997, Hong Kong is called the Hong Kong SAR.

Nouns

Common nouns Proper nouns

Countable Uncountable

Collective Concrete Material Abstract

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Abstract nouns

There are some other kinds of nouns. Look at these sentences:

The car went at a speed of 90 miles an hour.

Thank you for your great kindness.

Lloyd has toothache.

He bore the pain with great courage.

Health is better than wealth.

The nouns speed, kindness, toothache, etc. don’t name material things; they name abstract things. We

call nouns like these abstract nouns.

Collective nouns

There are some nouns that are the names not of just one person or thing, but of a whole collection

of people or things, considered as one.

For example, in the school’s hockey team there are eleven players but we think of it as a single team,

that is, as one thing. We call it a team. In this case, team is a collective noun.

Nouns that stand for a number of things considered as one are called collective nouns. Collective

nouns generally (but not always) take a singular verb.

The crowd is one of the largest I have ever seen.

A flock of sheep is coming down the hill.

The class has an English lesson every day.

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Exercises

A. Pick out the abstract nouns in these sentences.

Example: Some British people don’t like the heat.

Answer: heat

1. The soldiers fought with great courage.

2. He has always had very good health.

3. I want you to get the measurements of this room. Write down its length, breadth, and

height.

B. Pick out the collective nouns in these sentences.

Example: The team was chosen by a committee.

Answer: team, committee

1. That ship has a crew of a hundred men.

2. The audience listened in breathless silence to the singer.

3. The regiment of soldiers marched into battle.

4. The fishermen saw a big shoal of fish.

5. Men are wanted for the army, the navy and the air force.

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Countable and uncountable nouns

All common nouns can be divided into two classes: countable nouns and uncountable nouns

Countable nouns

Nouns like apples, boys, bicycles, airplanes are countable – that is to say, you can count the things they

name. You can have three bicycles, ten boys, twenty airplanes, fifty apples.

Uncountable nouns

But what about things like water, air, bread, money, wool, smoke, glass, rain? You don’t say : Count the

waters coming out of this tap or How many airs are there in this room? Or Please count these

moneys. You could, perhaps, count drops of water, slices of bread, pieces of money. The words (nouns)

drops, slices, pieces are countables, but water, bread, money are uncountables. Don’t you think you see

the difference?

The use of articles

You can use a (an) with a singular countable noun. You can’t use a (an) with uncountable

nouns.

You hardly ever use a singular countable noun without a determiner.

Glass is used for windows. (Glass is uncountable.)

I want a glass for my orange drink. (Glass is countable and it has the determiner a.)

Abstract nouns (courage, strength…) and material nouns (iron, air…) are uncountable nouns, so

they don’t have plural forms and can’t be used with a, an.

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Exercise

Arrange the nouns in the box in two columns: countable nouns in column 1 and uncountable

nouns in column 2. We have put the first two nouns in the correct columns for you.

1. Countable nouns 2. Uncountable nouns

machine gold

gold, machine, tree, silver, happiness, flower, flour, machinery, wool, spoon, milk,

electricity, tea, steam, book

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Exercise

Copy out these sentences putting a or an where necessary. Remember that only countable nouns

that are singular take a or an. Don’t put anything before a plural countable noun or an uncountable

noun.

1. That is _______ man.

2. These are _______ men.

3. _______ house can be built of _______ stone.

4. _______ cow is _______ animal.

5. _______ cows are _______ animals.

6. _______ cigarette is made of _______ tobacco and _______ paper.

7. _______ chair is made of _______ wood.

8. _______ chairs are made of _______wood.

9. _______ man must have _______air to live.

10. _______ hen can lay _______ egg.

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Measurement words

Measurement words for countable nouns

a bunch of grapes two bunches of grapes

a bunch of grapes a hand of bananas a box of eggs a basket of apple

a packet of cigarettes a box of books a bag of coins a bunch of flowers

Measurement words for uncountable nouns

a bar of soap two bars of soap

a bar of soap a block of ice a bottle of ink a bowl of rice

a drop of water a grain of sand a loaf of bread a lump of sugar

a piece of advice a piece of furniture a piece of news a piece of paper

a pool of blood a sack of cement a sheet of paper a slice of cake

a stick of chalk a sum of money a tube of toothpaste a glass of water

a cup of tea a jar of juice a kilo of meat a packet of gum

a pound of metal a can of paint a ton of garbage a box of gold

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Quantifiers for the countable and the uncountable

Countable nouns Uncountable nouns

I have

many

a few

a lot of

batteries

cookies

I have

much

a little

a lot of

water

money

Exercises

A. Fill in the blanks with “many’ or ‘much’.

1. How _______ people did you see?

2. How _______ food did they carry?

B. Fill in the blanks with “a few’ or ‘a little’.

1. Derek had _______ money. He had _______ coins and _______ notes.

2. There were _______ cows on the farm, and the farmer got _______ milk from them

every day.

3. After _______ time, Derek began to visit the animals, and after _______ days he knew all

of them well.

We use a few for people, animals or things which we can count (e.g. a few friends)

and a little for things which we cannot count (e.g. a little water).

A few and a little can be used as pronouns (e.g. “He brought some tea and gave me a

little.”), or as adjectives (e.g. “He brought me a few cakes.” and “He gave me a little tea.”).

A few is the opposite of many, and a little is the opposite of much. Both are the

opposites of a lot (of).

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Exercise

Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.

1. There are some minor change that could be made to update this documentation.

A B C D

2. The laboratory equipments that you requested will be arriving by the end of next

A B C D

week.

3. Before working as a sales representative in our company, Frank Robert was a

A B

mechanical engineering in a large firm.

C D

4. Overseas visitor must register with the government office located on Central

A B C D

Avenue.

5. Each manager of each department is obliged to give advise to their subordinates.

A B C D

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Proofreading : Nouns

Correct the mistakes on the use of nouns.

Sometimes I wish I had proxys to take my quizzes in math. My score is average;

however, there is rooms for improvement. My scores in three other courseses –

accounting, music, and international business – are very good. For music I have

access to two pianoes – one at home and one at school – so I can practice many

houres a day. I know wishs cannot come true, so maybe I need to practice math

at home and at school also.

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Adjectives

We use an adjective with a noun to limit the meaning of the noun. The adjective qualifies the

noun. The adjective usually goes before the noun.

1. Adjectives of quality

a thin man a fat man

an old book a new book`

a heavy box a light box

a good egg a bad egg

a white rabbit a black rabbit

The words man, book, box, egg, rabbit are nouns. The words fat, thin, old, new, heavy, light, good, bad, white,

black all tell us something about these nouns. They tell us what kind of man, what kind of book,

what kind of egg, etc. They are adjectives of quality.

2. Adjectives of quantity

There are several other kinds of adjectives besides adjectives of quality. There are, for example,

adjectives that tell you “how much’ or ‘how many’.

I have two eyes.

There are twenty books on the desk.

These are called adjectives of quantity.

Much and many are also adjectives of quantity. They tell us the quantity but not so definitely as the

numbers one, two, three, etc.

Much is used with singular nouns; many with plural nouns and we almost always use them with not

or n’t.

I don’t have many friends in Cairo.

adjective noun

The adjective qualifies the noun.

thin man

two eyes

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We didn’t have much rain this morning.

There are not many apples on that tree.

I didn’t eat much breakfast this morning.

3. Demonstrative adjectives

There are also adjectives that ‘point out’ people, things, etc.

This and these are generally used for things that are near.

That and those are generally used for things that are farther away.

This and that go with singular nouns.

These and those go with plural nouns.

This car is old. (singular)

That car is old. (singular)

These cars are new. (plural)

Those cars are new. (plural)

This, that, these, those are demonstrative adjectives.

4. Interrogative adjectives

Interrogative adjectives are used with nouns to ask questions.

What book are you reading now?

What price are eggs today?

Which boy can answer this question?

Which house do you live in?

Whose house is that? Whose cat is this?

This car

What book

Did you know?

‘What’ is not always an adjective. It is an adjective when it is put before a noun.

In a sentence like “What are you reading now?” ’What’ is a pronoun.

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Exercise

Pick out the adjectives in the following and say what kind of adjective each one is.

Example: Whose car is that red Peugeot?

Answer: Whose - interrogative adjective

That - demonstrative adjective

Red - adjective of quality

1. We haven’t much time to write this long report.

2. I wish my boss would buy me that big, new car.

3. Which job do you want?

4. What price is that fax machine?

5. Those four salesmen are brothers.

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Possessive adjectives

my cat

your cat

his cat

These words (all qualifying the noun cat) are adjectives. Because they show possession, we call

them possessive adjectives. Let’s collect them and arrange them like this:

Determiners : possessive adjectives

Singular Plural

1st person my our

2nd person your your

3rd person his, her, its their

When we use a possessive adjective with a noun, the noun does not have any other determiner

(like a, an, the, this, some).

Exercise

A. In the blank spaces in the following, write first the possessive adjective and then the personal

pronoun (objective). The first one is done for you.

1. I have a book. This is my book. I have brought it with me.

2. You have a book. This is ______ book. You have brought it with _______.

3. He has a book. This is ______ book. He has brought it with _______.

4. She has a book. This is ______ book. She has brought it with _______.

5. It (the dog) has a bone. This is ______ bone. It has brought it with _______.

6. We have a book. This is ______ book. We have brought it with _______.

7. They have a book. This is ______ book. They have brought it with _______.

my cat

Did you know? In traditional grammar “my” is called “possessive pronoun, the possessive case”.

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Exercise Pick out the adjectives in the following story.

Mr. Grey was a biology professor, and he had a big collection of extremely rare bones

which he was very proud of. Then one year he managed to get a new and better job at

another university. Because Mr. Grey was very busy, his wife made the arrangements for all

their possessions to be taken in a moving van to their new home while he was away at

work.

The following week the men started taking the things out of Mrs. Grey’s house and

loading them into the van. One of the workmen brought out a large wooden box. He was

just about to throw it into the van with all the other things when Mrs. Grey ran out of the

house and said, “Please treat that box very gently! That one has all of my husband’s bones

in it.”

The man was so surprised that he nearly dropped the box on his feet.

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Comparison of adjectives

Mr Bingo is a strong man. Mr Jingo is stronger. Mr Stingo is the strongest man of the three.

Mr Bingo, Mr Jingo and Mr Stingo are all strong in different degrees, and we show that by three

different forms of the adjective : strong, stronger, the strongest.

In grammar, these three forms are called the positive degree, the comparative degree, and the

superlative degree.

A great many short adjectives form their comparative degree by adding –er, and their superlative by

adding –est to the positive.

Positive Comparative Superlative

tall taller the tallest

short shorter the shortest

quick quicker the quickest

old

older the oldest

Sometimes the last letter of the positive is doubled :

Positive Comparative Superlative

hot hotter the hottest

fat fatter the fattest

big bigger the biggest

thin

thinner the thinnest

If the positive ends in –e we only add –r and –st :

Positive Comparative Superlative

large larger the largest

fine finer

the finest

Adjectives that end in –y usually change the letter ‘y’ to –ier in the comparative and –iest in the

superlative :

Positive Comparative Superlative

pretty prettier the prettiest

happy happier the happiest

heavy heavier

the heaviest

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Comparison of long adjectives

Some adjectives form their comparative and superlative by using more and most.

This is an interesting

book.

This is a more interesting

book.

This is the most interesting

book of all.

The adjectives that do this are usually rather long words. All adjectives of three or more syllables,

e.g. ex-cit-ing, in-te-rest-ing, un-for-tu-nate, are compared like this.

Here are some more examples :

Positive Comparative Superlative

important more important the most important

dangerous more dangerous the most dangerous

valuable more valuable the most valuable

wonderful more wonderful the most wonderful

convenient more convenient

the most convenient

Irregular comparison

Unfortunately, ‘rules’ in English grammar always have ‘exceptions’, some disobedient words that

won’t obey the rules. Well, there are some ‘exceptions’ to these rules for comparison of adjectives.

Take good for example. We can’t say gooder and goodest. And we can’t say badder and baddest. We’ll

just gather these ‘disobedient’ words together.

Irregular comparatives and superlatives

Positive Comparative Superlative

good better the best

bad worse the worst

far (distance) farther the farthest

far (amount) Further

the furthest

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Look at these three ways of comparing one thing (or person) with another.

1. With the positive degree we use as before the adjective and as after it.

This stick is as long as that one.

John is not as fat as his father.

2. With the comparative we use … than after the adjective.

That stick is longer than this one.

This horse is better than that one.

This is a more comfortable chair than that chair.

3. After the superlative we often use of.

This is the best of the three knives.

But we may use a phrase that begins in, on etc.

That girl is the youngest in the class.

He’s the biggest boy on the field.

Exercise

Fill in the missing words.

1. This report is not ______ good ______ that.

2. This report is ______ best ______ the three.

3. That project is more difficult ______ this one.

4. The weather is worse today ______ it was yesterday.

5. It was not ______ bad yesterday ______ it is today.

6. Today’s weather is ______ worst ______ the week.

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Proofreading: adjectives

Correct the mistakes on the comparison of adjectives.

The happy day of my life was when I graduated from high school. My mother

stood and applauded louder than anyone else in the auditorium. I will never

forget her smile. It was the big smile that I had ever seen. She knew I had been

successfuler in high school than my older brother and she had confidence that I

would achieve greatest success after high school than my brother. My mom was

probably more happier than I on that graduation day.

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Determiners : the articles a, an, the

The determiners are a small number of words that we use with nouns. Here are most of the

determiners :

Definite article : the

Indefinite article : a, an

Demonstrative adjectives : this, that, these, those

Possessive adjectives : my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their

Determiners are often used with adjectives.

I’ve lost a big red book.

This is your big red book, isn’t it?

No. That red book isn’t as big as my book.

But determiners are never used with other determiners. You never say a this book or the my

book or my the book or each these books.

The definite article

We call a, an and the articles. The is the definite article. We use the with nouns that name:

1. people or things when the hearer or reader knows who or what we mean – when the meaning

is definite.

I have been talking to the head teacher. (We know which head teacher.)

He is going to the post office. (We know which post office.)

2. a person or thing that is the only one.

We get light from the sun and the moon.

The River Thames flows through London.

Pronounce the with an ee sound before a vowel sound: the Alps, the end, the index, the hour (we don’t

sound the h).

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The indefinite article

We call a or an the indefinite article. We use a or an with common nouns when we mention

somebody or something for the first time.

There’s a good film at the Odeon.

A man ran towards us with a knife.

If we mention the person or thing again andwe know which one, we use the.

There’s a good film at the Odeon. The film is about cowboys.

A man ran towards us with a knife. The knife was red with blood, and the man was shouting.

The difference between a and an

Common cases:

a boy an apple

a house an ear

a big egg an Indian song

a dog an orange

Special cases:

a uniform an hour

a university an honest man

a European an honor

Exercises

A. Put a or an before each of the following words:

1. cat 4. hour 7. horse

2. pen 5. telephone 8. ice-cream

3. eye 6. airplane 9. honor

B. Write a or an before these pairs of words – adjective and noun.

Example : old man, tall man, big orange

Answers: an old man, a tall man, a big orange

1. long road 6. nice egg

2. ugly man 7. hard question

3. easy answer 8. old person

4. easy question 9. young animal

5. enormous box 10. Jamaican friend

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C. Mark the determiners in this story. There are 14 of them.

We have learned the uses of ‘a, an, the’, but there are many fixed expressions that do not follow the

rules. Learners need to memorize them. The following are some examples:

In the morning (You don’t say ‘in morning’ or ‘in a morning’)

At noon (You don’t say ‘at the noon’ or ‘at a noon’)

In the evening (Not ‘in an evening’)

At midnight (Not ‘at the midnight’)

Sometimes two expressions mean the same thing :

It’s late, and I have to get over the work in a hurry = (in haste).

It is hard to read and listen to the radio at a time = (at the same time)

I think he’ll pay in the end = (at last)

The letter is full of mistakes, badly written, careless, incomplete, in short = (in a word = in

brief) quite useless.

The firemen are ready to leave the station at a moment’s notice = (at short notice)

Learners have to remember which expression has ‘a’ or ‘the’, and which doesn’t have.

A girl received a very nice ring from her boyfriend. She wore the ring to the office the

next day. Nobody noticed it. She moved her hand this way and that way, and still none

of the other girls in the office noticed the ring. At last she said, ‘It’s a very hot day, isn’t

it? I must take off my ring.’

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Exercise

Identify one underlined word or phrase that should be corrected or rewritten.

1. Anyone in need of the more office supplies should submit a request form by Friday.

A B C D

2. Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours in the advance.

A B C D

3. Because of the advice she was given and the excellent job prospects in the field, she

A B C

chose to become engineer.

D

4. Trading stocks is a excellent way for investors to make profits.

A B C D

5. Sales have greatly increased during the past year, so we will be expanding ______ profit-

sharing plan to include part-time employees.

(A) our (B) we (C) us (D) ourselves

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The order of adjectives

I want to buy a beautiful, big, new, blue, European car.

OPINION APPEARANCE AGE COLOR ORIGIN MATERIAL

good

bad

beautiful

ugly

smart

dumb

usually follows this order:

size/measure

big

small

high

low

shape

round

circular

square

condition

broken

cracked

ripped

fresh

rotten

new

antique

old

young

two-year-old

red

purple

pink

dark green

navy blue

Korean

Chinese

French

Italian

American

iron

brass

cotton

gold

wooden

vegetable

Exercise

Put the adjectives in correct order to describe the noun underlined.

1. Aunt Betty wants a coffee table. (stone, square, gray)

2. The king took a trip. (2-week, exhausting)

3. These are cookies! (chocolate chip, delicious, huge)

4. Alice prefers furniture. (leather, Italian, black)

5. Archeologists get very excited when they find bones. (animal, large, prehistoric)

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Rules to Remember

1 Use commas after each adjective except the last one (no comma between the last adjective and

the noun). For example,

Alice prefers black, Italian, leather furniture.

2 If an adjective has 2 words, do not put a comma between the words. For example,

These are delicious, huge, chocolate chip cookies!

3. Adjectives are never plural. Therefore, when the adjective contains a number and noun, the

noun associated with the number is singular.

This is a five-years plan INCORRECT

This is a five-year plan CORRECT

We welcome 4 years old children. INCORRECT

We welcome 4-year-old children. CORRECT